Nepeta walked into her apartment and made a quick phone call to Feferi to let her know she was home. After she hung up, she made a pot of green tea and tidied up her apartment a little bit. Feferi was at her apartment within fifteen minutes of the phone call, with all of Nepeta's things in hand. When Nepeta opened up the door, Feferi set down Nepeta's belongings and then picked her up in a hug in one swift motion.
Feferi set her down and closed the door behind her. After a brief pause she blurted out "Hi!"
Nepeta giggled "It's nice to see you too! Make yourself at home in the living room and I'll go get the tea."
"Okay! Are you sure you don't need a hand with anything?"
"No! I got it!"
Nepeta piled the tea cups, sugar cubes and honey in her arms and carefully made her way into the living room. She was sure not to step on Pounce as he slumbered in the middle of the kitchen floor. She set down the tea cups neatly and then placed the accessories in a heap on the table.
"Now to actually get the tea." Nepeta said, and Feferi giggled.
"So, how's working at Starbucks with Kanaya and Equius going for you? You've been working there for...three? No...four weeks right?" Feferi asked.
Nepeta emerged from the kitchen with the teapot in hand. "Actually I've been working there for two and a half months." She giggled. "And it's been going pretty okay! Eridan even stopped by today, which...actually ended a little badly."
"Why's that?" Feferi said as she took a teacup off of the table and held it up for Nepeta to pour tea into.
Nepeta sighed as she finished pouring tea for Feferi. She sat down and poured herself some, and then set the pot on the table. "Kanaya works there, you know. And she and Eridan didn't get along very well in high school, so you can only imagine what that reunion was like. And Equius also works there. He wasn't very happy about the whole thing either."
"Wait, how much do they know about you two?"
"Well, there's not much to know," Nepeta said with a sly smile. "I told them that I kinda liked him, and he kinda liked me. That's it."
"You didn't tell them that you two had sex?" Feferi asked.
Nepeta nearly spilled her tea. "What?! Jesus Christ Feferi we did not! I've only ever had one kiss from a boy! Well, two now-but really! Do you honestly think I'm sexually active?"
Feferi set her tea down on the table and folded her arms. "Damn. Excuse me. I just thought it was the perfect scenario, sorry. So he kissed you good bye then?"
Nepeta was flustered, but maintained her composure. "Yeah. But that was it."
There was a slight awkward silence, occupied by Feferi's fingernails tapping the china of her tea cup as she tossed around carefully the thoughts in her head.
Feferi took a deep breath before she spoke what she had been thinking. "You want my honest advice Nep? Stay away from him. He's not going to give you the type of relationship you want. I thought you had grown up, but you're still living in Junior High. You're not going to be able to handle the demands he's going to want from you." Feferi did not look at her when she said this, she didn't even face her. Instead, she looked outside the window and took a quick sip of her tea when she was finished.
Nepeta was in shock. She couldn't believe Feferi had the nerve to say that. Her face grew a dark shade of red and she clenched the hand that wasn't holding onto the tea cup into a fist.
"What's wrong with you? You're horrible!" tears stung her eyes and she tried her best to blink them away.
Feferi instantly looked regretful and grabbed Nepeta's hand. "Hey, hey...I'm sorry," She said, trying to calm her down. "That wasn't right, what I said. I'm sorry, I'm just irritated right now and I'm suffering a massive headache from my hangover."
Nepeta set her tea down and wiped away her tears. "It's okay. But...you didn't even have that much to drink last night? Even if you don't believe what you said was right...you still think it's true." She stuck out her bottom lip a little.
"Actually, I had quite a lot more to drink after you guys left." Feferi said, avoiding the subject slightly.
"You didn't drink and drive did you? How did you guys get home?"
Feferi bit her lip. "Don't get mad...I let Karkat sleep at my mom's house because it was in walking distance and she's not in town. We were both a little tipsy. Being underage and all, it was the best choice."
"Why would get mad?" Nepeta asked.
Feferi looked at her sympathetically and something clicked in Nepeta's mind, and she started crying again.
"You didn't. Please tell me you didn't."
Feferi wasn't crying, but she was close to it. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Nep. We were drinking, we weren't thinking straight...we were home alone, I mean, what would you have done?"
"I wouldn't have slept with the guy my best friend's been in love with for the past four years!" Nepeta blurted out, rising to her feet.
A single tear fell down Feferi's cheek. "I'm sorry, it was a dumb mistake-"
"Leave! Get the hell out of here you whore! I never want to talk to you again!" Nepeta interrupted.
"Don't call me a whore!" Feferi shouted back. "For Christ's sake Nepeta you've been liking him for years now and how far have you gotten? At least I'm not little miss perfect!"
"Why are you still here? Get out, get out!"
"Fine! I'm leaving! Oh, and one more think before I go-" She stood up and leaned in close to Nepeta's face. "Eridan and I've screwed three times." She stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind her.
Nepeta stood still where she was for a long time, staring at the door, eyes wide. Finally she broke down, slumped onto the couch, and cried herself to sleep. After all, if you had just learned your best friend's had sex with both the two guys you've fallen for, what would you do?
When she awoke, it was about ten pm. Her head throbbed and she felt as if she were going to throw up. When she went to stand up, the blood rushed to her head and she felt nauseous. In general, she felt like crap. She leaned on the walls as she made her way around the tiny apartment. To the bathroom to take some Advil for her headache and to actually use the bathroom. To the living room to put away the tea. Then to the fridge, just to see an empty whiteness staring back at her. It was too late to order anything, and she wasn't sure she was willing to make the trip to the store.
She retrieved her phone to find she had three missed calls and a new message, all from Equius. She bit her lip, he was probably upset with her for not answering him, and now she wasn't sure she wanted to ask him what she wanted to.
She gathered up the courage and called him anyways.
A solemn but yet still exceptionally strong voice answered the phone. "Nepeta?"
"Equius, I'm going to need you to do me a huge favor." She couldn't help but tear up when she heard his voice. She was a tad emotionally exhausted.
"Nepeta, what's wrong?"
"I-I just, please, come over to my apartment. I know it's late, but I haven't eaten all day and I really need to talk to you about...just, please come." Her voice failed on the last two words, and came out more as a squeak. Her lip was quivering and she had tear streaks on her cheeks again.
"I will make haste and bring food."
"Thank you so much..."
He hung up. Nepeta tossed her phone to the side and cradled her legs close to her chest. Everything ached. Everything was numb. She felt very alone.